Latin Dance
by miasnape
Summary: HPSS slash R rating may be going overboard, but better safe than sorry. Typical Sev can dance fic.
1. Default Chapter

"Please, Severus, _please_?"

"But we've been at it all night!"

"Just one more go?"

"Harry, I'm exhausted, I'm not as young as you."

"And I'm not as experienced as you and you promised to teach me everything you know!  Please?"

"Fine.  But if I wake up with all my muscles sore then you will be made to explain to my first year Hufflepuff class why I'm so…"

"Grumpy?"

"Vicious."

"Fine, I'll accept full responsibility, but put the music back on."

Severus Snape flicked his wand and the rich sounds of a Latin tango beat filled the room.  Harry looked into his partner's eyes and felt his body instinctively sway with the rhythm.  They moved together on instinct, closer and more passionate as the music came closer to it's end, thrusting, spinning, dipping and dancing in the way only two who have been dancing together for a while can.  As the last chord left the room Harry found himself leaning over backwards, Severus peering over at him from under the hair that had escaped the loose ponytail he kept it back in while dancing, with a look that spelt out 'lust'.  The only thing missing was a red rose in Severus mouth. Severus leaned slowly up again, bringing Harry with him.

"Wow."

"Your vocabulary has widely expanded in my company, I see."

"But that was…wow."

"I think we may have it down, now."

Harry nodded slowly, his eyes mirroring Severus' in terms of desire.  He attacked the older man's mouth and found it willing to be debauched.  Moments of reckless and passionate movements found one Severus Snape bent over a black leather armchair, his robes around his waist and his boxers at his ankles and one Harry Potter kneeling behind him with his trousers and underwear at his ankles, t-shirt thrown aside, sporting a new and purpling love bite on his shoulder and reaching for a pot of lubricant.

And then someone knocked the door.

Harry let out a cry of frustration, but before he moved he called "Who is it?"  He wasn't about to let the mood drain away for some third year that needed help on their essay on kappas.  Unfortunately the voice was deeper and much older than a thirteen-year-old's. Harry swore and then began pulling his jeans up and making himself as presentable as possible.  The mood was gone.

"Do you want me to go wait in the bedroom until he's gone?"

"No, he has to find out sometime and I won't let it be said that we hid it from anyone."

"Fine, but if your dogfather kills me, you've only yourself to blame."

Harry scowled at the name 'dogfather' but let it go on grounds that Severus was nervous.  Not that he showed it, but Harry knew in that way only he and Albus had ever been able to.

Harry went to the door after Severus had managed to get his underpants up.  He left his t-shirt off deciding that since it would just come off again later anyway there was no point.

Scowling lightly he pulled open the door.

"Sirius, what do you want."

Sirius looked mildly shocked at the brusque non-welcome.  Then he took in Harry's shirtless, tousled, bitten and decidedly grumpy person and realised he had interrupted something personal.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

He didn't look very sorry.  In fact he was smiling roguishly.

"Yes, you did.  For what reason?  That's what I want to know.  Because if it's not important I'd like to get back to it."

Sirius grinned like a teenager.

"Ooh, somebody has a boyfriend."

"Yes, _somebody_ does."

Sirius tried to peer around the doorframe and Harry blocked him.

"What?!  Is he so secret you can't even let me see him?"

"No, but if you want to know who it is you'll have to do three things.  Tell me why you're here, promise me you won't kill either of us and believe me when I say it's more than just fun."

Sirius looked at the serious green eyes and gulped slightly.

"O…okay. Promise – no killings and total belief.  I only came to chat for a while.  So who is it?"

"Come in and see."

He moved aside and went to sit on the arm of the chair Severus was sitting in – the black leather armchair – and put an arm around his shoulders, feeling an arm snake around his waist.  He relaxed a little.

Sirius Black, however, was not relaxed in the least.  He was hyperventilating.

"Sh…Huh…Snah…I…Oh…What?"

Harry picked up his wand from the small table beside the chair and shut the door without moving – his private business was just that.

"Sirius, I believe you know Severus Snape."

Severus Snape himself snorted and pulled Harry closer, leaning his head against the taught stomach of his partner.

Sirius came back to coherent speech.

"Harry, what the hell is going on?"

"I think you might want to sit down."

Sirius slumped into the seat facing them and repeated his question.

"We're partners.  Have been since last Halloween.  I love him, Sirius."

Severus froze, tightened his grip and looked up at Harry.

"You love me?"

Harry looked down and smiled, cupping Severus' chin with his hand and making their eyes meet.

"I love you," he repeated.

Forgetting that they had an audience Severus' face broke into a smile and his eyes lit up.

"I love you too, Harry."

Harry lent down and graced his lips with a gentle and tender kiss, only breaking off when the splutters from the other side of the fireplace caught his attention.  He slid onto Severus' lap and felt arms hold him steady.  Resting his head on the proffered shoulder he amended his statement.

"We love each other, Sirius."

Sirius took in the tableaux in front of him.  The love was extremely evident, and he wasn't about to cause Harry problems and possibly drive him away just because he didn't happen to be mad about what made the man happy.  In fact relationships between himself and Snape had eased over the years following Harry's fourth year and their forced handshake and renewal of acquaintanceship. The information Snape gathered from his position of spy had gone straight to those working in the field against Voldemort, so he had had many meetings with the man over the years.  He even spoke to him now and again these days at Hogwarts, despite the fact that the threat of Voldemort had been wiped out for good.  He had learned some things during his time in Azkaban and on the run and the biggest was not to take love for granted.

No, it wasn't that it was Snape, not exactly.  It was that someone was in a position where they could really hurt his godson, and he would do anything to stop that.  He sighed audibly.

"I think you'd best explain what happened."

As Harry explained, Severus Snape remembered things from his point of view and smiled lightly.  Drawing Harry closer, he let himself fall into memories.

~What Happened ~

Severus Snape sat in the staff room and waited for Dumbledore and whoever was the latest incompetent in the succession of DADA teachers to grace the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry to arrive so that the meeting could start.  He hated these meetings – all complaints about how things happened and no real solutions offered up.  Just whinging and whining and greeting the newest fool to work under Headmaster Dumbledore.  The door opened and the room quieted to see who would be offered up as sacrifice to the great gods of whatever who protected the DADA position against those unable to do the job properly.  Year after year there were bumbling fools, crazy maniacs and boring farts.  The only really competent ones had been Lupin – but since he disappeared for three days every full moon and then turned up looking like death warmed over, Snape figured he wasn't suitable either – and Moody – but since he had been a crazed follower of Voldemort in disguise he wasn't exactly leading material either.  Which of the four categories would this person fit in to?

Clapping and pleased comments, which didn't exactly register with him, broke out when a tall, muscular man with shoulder-length black hair and an extremely handsome profile came into the room with Dumbledore.  He had his wand in a holster; a dagger strapped to his leg, and wore a green and silver cloak over red and gold robes.  Snape was wondering if he realised what a controversial outfit it was he wore in this building when Albus spoke up and confirmed that he did.

"I would ask you all to welcome our newest professor, Mister Harry Potter."

Snape openly gaped.  This was Harry Potter?!

Harry Potter had gone through his school career being as great a nuisance to Snape as possible until his fifth year when he had returned and practically demanded that Snape teach him the ways of the death eaters so that he could defend himself and others better against them.  Dumbledore hadn't let him refuse and he had found out that Harry Potter was neither 'The Boy Who Lived' nor James Potter II, and actually had some good points.  However Snape had reserved the right to believe that he was annoying in his own right.

Harry had continued to battle against Voldemort with sporadic yet frequent occurrence even after he left Hogwarts, joining the Auror Training School and graduating with distinction, top of his class.

After another year he finally took his chance and led a group into Voldemort's layer after they had exhausted themselves on one of their little evil escapades among the muggles.  Surprising Snape, Harry had used a potion and spell double-whammy which the young man and that Granger girl – now Mrs Weasley, and the director of the Ministry Research Department, he remembered – had come up with, killing Voldemort for good, body and soul.

That had been during the Christmas holidays last year and no one had seen him since.  Actually, no one had really seen him after his graduation from the Auror academy as he had been using a glamour spell to hide his true identity from Voldemort. No one, except, apparently, Albus Dumbledore.  Snape closed his mouth and hoped no one had seen his highly undignified reaction.  Just in time, because after having greeted all other teachers in the room Harry had made his way over to Snape and now stood in front of him.  The staff held it's mutual breath and waited to see whether the two men could be civil.

Black eyes met green and held there for a solid minute or two, conversations transmitted silently, questions asked and answered.  Finally the two broke the stare and shook hands wordlessly.  The faculty let themselves breathe easy again.

The meeting progressed as usual despite frequent glances that were out of his control at this man he found himself in the presence of; Professor Potter.  At the end of the meeting the two simply nodded at each other and left for their rooms, Harry to move his things in and Snape to brood over why he found himself staring at Harry Potter.

The staring continued as the summer came to an end and Snape soon found that his unfortunate difficulty in making his eyes repel Harry went both ways.  Several times he had felt that ghostly feeling creep up his spine and turned only to find pools of green staring back, and the monthly staff meeting that came at the end of August was extremely similar to the first minus the shock and gaping.

Then September came and with it star-struck students and a new version of Neville Longbottom – Samuel Oaken.  Every class with him was a disaster, and it didn't help that the boy was a Gryffindor.  At the September staff meeting he had brought the child's incompetence up in the hopes that someone had thought of something that they hadn't with Neville – now a top-grade Herbologist who's necessary potions were all bought rather than brewed at home as they should have been.

At first Harry had looked at him as if amazed that he cared (which didn't surprise Snape given his treatment to Longbottom) and then he had asked to speak with him after the meeting in his quarters with a suggestion.  It was the first thing he'd said to Snape all year except 'could you please pass the salt' at dinner one night.

Later that evening found Severus Snape standing near the doorway of the small living room in Harry's quarters gazing at the things around him – the room was filled with little things that Harry must have picked up over the years, for example a remembrall sat on a piece of blue parchment beside a cactus and a leather broomstick repair kit.  The parchment read 'You giving me this back and telling me you'd made the Gryffindor Quidditch team is my first good memory of Hogwarts.  Maybe it'll help you remember to stay out of Snape's way.  Good luck.  Neville.'

Snape snorted.

"Obviously it didn't work."

Harry looked up form where he was setting a stack of essays on his desk and glanced between the man and the note and laughed.

"He thinks that since I told him in seventh year about…never mind.  No, it didn't work."

Snape was intrigued.

"What did you tell him about?"

Harry blushed.

"Nothing…it was nothing important, but he warned me that even though I was here to teach, you would likely still try to give me detention.  He was and still is terrified of you

"You didn't believe him did you?"

Harry looked at him strangely.

"Why would I?"

"Tonight was the first time we've spoken since the death Eater trials.  Maybe you were avoiding me."

Harry looked as though he was considering the statement and Snape couldn't believe he'd brought it up at all – so what if he had been avoiding him, he didn't care.  Did he?

"I suppose you're right.  It wasn't intentional, I assure you – I've been very busy settling in."

Snape nodded.

"Okay.  What about Mister Oaken then?"

"You really care about your students, don't you?  All of them."

Snape was annoyed.

"Of course I do.  I'm a teacher."

"Sorry, it's just…with Neville, after I found out about his parents…why didn't you help him?  He was just scared."

Snape sighed.

"We couldn't think of anything.  We decided that the best we could do was treat him like other students who made mistakes and let him fail potions at OWL level since his career path was obviously in the herbological direction and it wouldn't matter too much.  He didn't fail though – actually got a C in the end if I recall.  What do you think we should have done?"

"Same thing I'm suggesting for Samuel.  I guess it's only because I knew Neville so well by the end of fifth year that I thought about how to help him.  He told me it was why he didn't fail potions.  We sat down before the OWLs and looked at all the potion ingredients in relation to herbology.  He was able to explain why the plant ingredients worked the way they did and it seemed to work.  If I'd started helping sooner he might've actually liked potions in the end.  With Samuel the subject isn't Herbology though, it's transfiguration.  I say we come up with a way to teach him about the transfiguring potions and why they work and then lead on to other ones from there when he has a basic understanding of them."

Snape thought it over – it was a distinctly well thought out plan.

"It worked with Longbottom to an extent.  How long did you have to change his grade from an F to a C?"

"About a month."

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"How the hell did you manage to help Longbottom so much and still come away with an A in your own OWL?"

"It helped me as well when I was going over it with him.  And I was interested in the class anyway."

"Really?"

"Why d'you think I took it on to NEWT level?  And got an A then, too?"

"I never thought about it, actually."

"Well, there were other reasons I did so well, but never mind that.  Do you think it might work again with Samuel?"

Snape wondered what the other reasons might have been, but decided to stay on topic and keep talking before he remembered that he was alone with Harry Potter in his quarters at half past eleven at night.

"I hope so.  We'll talk to Minerva and see what potions she feels would be best to begin with."

Harry nodded and that had been the beginning of several nights spent in the staff room discussing Samuel Oaken's progress in potions – it was going slowly but steadily in a positive direction.

By mid-October there was no longer a need for Harry to be part of the discussions with Severus and Minerva, but still he found himself sitting talking amicably with the man about Samuel's progress and other non-related things in the staff room.  By this time other staff members had noticed the flourishing friendship and were doing their best to help it along.  Of course the betting pool that had started regarding the shared heated looks indicating that the relationship would progress past 'friendship' helped inspire them to success.

Nothing regarding that actually happened until the night of the Halloween feast.  As usual, something happened on Halloween to Harry – it wasn't generally a good holiday for him, what with trolls, petrified cats and worst of all his parents' and Hagrid's deaths, and the tradition of chaos had continued this year.

Despite having finally killed Voldemort there were still a few Death Eaters on the loose, including one Mr Lestrange.  Driven insane by his time in Azkaban and having escaped when the Dementors had returned to the dark side during the war he hadn't stopped when Voldemort had died.  He had apparently decided to carry on where his master had left off and attacked Hogwarts.  On his own.  No followers and no reason except to kill Harry.  Which he had certainly tried to do…in the middle of the feast.  His presence being unexpected he managed to get one good curse in before Harry deftly unarmed him and bound him magically, ready for the new minister of magic – Percy Weasley – to take him to the new Azkaban (no longer under the care of Dementors).  And then he had promptly collapsed into Snape's arms.

Snape, being a potions master, had immediately recognised what needed to be done and put it into practice.  With Albus following closely, floating Harry eerily in front of him, Snape rushed to his private stores and came back with a potion to counteract the effects of the spell.  The only problem had been that the potion had a few mild side effects.  Such as a lack of consciousness.  Harry had to be put into Severus' rooms to sleep off the reaction and had woken later that evening with the second reaction.  Unfortunately for Harry – or perhaps fortunately - the potion had a similar effect as a truth serum.  Which was why when Snape asked Harry how he was feeling he had received the answer, "Relaxed, not sore but extremely horny at the thought of being in your bed, Professor Snape."  The bulge under the bedclothes and the blush hiding behind embarrassed hands that supported the answer helped Severus to realise why exactly he'd been staring at Harry for the past three months.  And he'd bent down and pulled Harry's hands away gently before kissing him.  Which had, of course, led to better things the likes of which Sirius Black would interrupt one night almost exactly a year from then.

~Back to the Future ~

Severus snapped back to reality just as Harry was winding up.

"We never hid it from anyone – I want to make that clear.  If anyone had asked I would have told him or her the truth and so would Severus, I just don't want a front page special on the Daily Prophet, so we were discrete.  I'm glad you've found out, but if you're going to revert to the way you were before with Severus I'll not be happy.  At.  All."

Sirius nodded.

"It's just…why didn't you tell _anyone_?  Why didn't you tell me or Moony?"

"I just…I don't know.  It's just nice to have no one commenting on something so personal and until tonight I didn't know what exactly the relationship was and whether it would survive media attention or not."

Severus squeezed Harry reassuringly in his embrace.

Sirius smiled.

"So I helped?"

Harry laughed.

"I guess you could say that."

Sirius looked at Severus seriously.

"I'm Harry's godfather and I'm happy he's found someone who he can love and who loves him back.  But I swear to Merlin himself that if you ever hurt him I will…"

He seemed at a loss for words so Severus spoke for the first time since telling Harry his feelings.

"I love him, Sirius.  I'd never intentionally hurt him and if I do I can guarantee that I'll deserve every single thing you do to me."

Sirius looked at him in surprise.

"Well…  Okay, then.  Are you going to tell anyone, now?  Can I tell Moony?"

Harry looked questioningly at Severus and he nodded encouragingly.

"Okay.  Guess we can stop being so discrete, then.  You can tell Moony on one condition."

He looked confused.

"What Harry?"

"Leave us alone now to finish what we started earlier."

Sirius looked at Harry's bare love-bitten shoulder and Severus' wrinkled robes and remembered what exactly he'd interrupted.  He promptly blushed, jumped up, made his excuses in a mumbled manner before ducking out and running to tell Moony the news.  Harry laughed evilly before turning around on his lover's lap and looking him in the eyes.

"You really mean it?  You love me?"

"I love you _so much_.  I have for a while now, I just didn't know how to say it."

"Me too."

And they kissed, a passionate, gentle and love-filled kiss.  The kisses got steadily less gentle and more passionate until they finally retired to the bedroom to carry on their earlier activity in a more comfortable and much more naked place.

[NC-17 version available – just email me if you want it and I'll send it out ASAP – miasnape@yahoo.co.uk.]

~The next day~

As they arrived for breakfast the next day they acted as normal – friendly but not 'in love'.  Harry doubted Severus went for public displays of affection even if the option was now available.  Harry noticed that the newest Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes teachers – Professors Lupin and Black respectively – were grinning madly at him and he returned the grins easily – he was definitely in a good mood.  On waking this morning he had found himself enveloped in his lover's mouth.  He had agreed that it made a great start to a day.  Dumbledore spoke.

"I wish to remind you all that tonight there will be, instead of the usual feast, a costume ball.  All students and staff are expected to attend in costume.  Have a nice Halloween."

Harry smiled.  This was going to be his and Severus first date in public – they had decided to use the masked costumes and face paints to make themselves anonymous.  Both had made sure that they weren't roped into supervising and they were free to enjoy the night together.  Now the masks weren't exactly necessary, and they could repeat it in public, but he was still planning to make it a night to remember for a long time.  Severus was having the same thoughts.

That night at about half past eight two black haired people came into the Great Hall and looked around at the people congregated and decorations and band playing.  They spent most of the night sitting quietly at a table in the corner, holding hands, staring at each other and laughing.  People wondered who the two were – male/male couples were commonplace in the wizarding world (sure, different species married in the magical world), but no one could tell who the new couple were past the masks.  All they saw was a demon with his arms wrapped around Frankenstein's monster, head rested lovingly on his shoulder.  That was until the music changed.

At the first beat of the Latin music the demon jumped up and pulled the monster to its feet.  People watched as the couple moved to the centre of the dance floor and began to move.  People stopped and stared as they began to dance.  Soon the whole school was watching as they moved sensually in time to the music, their passionate movements drawing gasps and wishful sighs from people –it was obvious that these two people loved each other very much – they looked as if they knew the other's movements before the other himself did.  As the music sped up and reached it's climax the dancers got closer and closer, and finally with the song's end the smaller demon was pushed back into a dip and the monster's long, lean leg was pushed out to support the bent body's weight.  Even as the music stopped people stared in silence, wanting a clue as to the two people's identity – who would be able to dance like that?

It was some shock, then, when the monster straightened, pulled off his mask and became Severus Snape, Potions Master and Professor.  People audibly gasped and spluttered.  Many people changed their opinion of him in that instant, especially the older girls who had admired his legs and arse while dancing.  He seemed frozen, staring at the man behind the other mask until he smiled and his hand moved slowly up, gently revealing Professor Harry Potter to the crowd.  This time there were loud comments, a scream, a few catcalls, a wolf-whistle (from the resident werewolf), a low murmur of disbelief and a very happy Albus Dumbledore looking at his staff as if to say 'yay, wonderful, now where's my money?'

Suddenly Harry reached up, pulled the taller man's face down and kissed him passionately.  This was too much for some people and the screaming girl fainted.  When they broke apart they stared at each other for a while longer before Snape turned to the band's lead singer, glared and snapped out, "Well, where's the music?  This is a ball, you incompetent brat – it tends to need music!"

Immediately the music started up again – not Latin this time but a slow love song.  Harry and Severus began to move again, this time seemingly stuck together, moving only slightly, Severus' head rested on the top of Harry's, their eyes shut, one hand from each clamped tightly together, Severus' other hand at Harry's hip and Harry's other around Severus' waist.  No light could have passed through between them, and they were almost oblivious of the rest of the room who were still trying to get over the shock.

People slowly began to refill the dance floor and by the end of the next song the room had almost regained it's previous state.

Harry and Severus eventually made their way back to their table amidst congratulations and more whistles.  Albus smiled slyly at the other teachers and Sirius and Remus came over to the couple's table to escape.

"Well, if I'd known you were going to do that yesterday I wouldn't have bothered interrupting."

They had taken up their favourite sitting position – Harry on Severus' lap being held on with a hug – and were now the object of furtive, and some obvious, stares.

Harry laughed as he heard a seventh year girl describe Severus as 'sex on legs'.  Severus wasn't so happy.

"My reputation is now shot.  They know I have feelings and will expect mercy in class.  I blame you, you incorrigible brat."

Harry simply giggled and kissed his nose.

"I don't doubt it.  But did you see the lead singer when you snapped at her – I've never seen anyone move so fast."

"Past pupil."

"Ah."

Samuel Oaken came past and smiled brightly, congratulating them, and then came a considerably happy Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening."

Sirius and Remus looked almost guilty and spoke hesitantly.

"Uhm…Headmaster, how nice."

"Yes…what brings you by this table?"

"Oh, facts to be checked, debts to be recovered.  You know the kind of thing."

Harry and Severus looked at each other in confusion but found no explanation in each other and so moved onto Albus.

"What do you mean by 'debts', Albus?"

"Oh, just a little wager the staff has had since last year some time.  By the way, congratulations – how long have you been together?"

They smiled at each other.

"A year tonight, actually – it's our anniversary.  The side effects of the potion I gave Harry had a pleasant conclusion."

He looked at Harry and smirked.

"I told you!  I knew there was a bet on."

The other two professors at the table scowled, rummaging in their pockets.  Albus grinned and took the golden galleons from Remus and Sirius.

"What was the bet?"

"Nothing much."

"It was about us getting together, wasn't it?"

He simply grinned more, eyes twinkling.

"You won?"

"I know people."

And he walked away towards a sour looking Fillius Flitwick who was fiddling with a leather moneybag.

Harry's face split in a grin.

"What?"

"I just realised that nothing went wrong today – nothing bad happened!  My tradition of bad luck and chaos has finally been broken and I declare a new tradition for it to be a day of good luck and joy!"

Sirius huffed.

"No bad luck for you, anyway.  I lost twelve galleons to that barmy old codger."

"When did _you_ say?"

He pouted and glared accusingly.

"Never in a million years."

Harry grinned and looked at Remus.

"You?"

"Not for at least five years.  Of course it's Minerva who's worst off – she bet twenty-four that you would get together in a year."

Harry looked confused.

"But it _has_ been a year."

"Since you got together, yes, but you did the getting last year."

"Oh, right, so what did Albus say?"

"It was the beginning of last October after the staff meeting and he said within a month.  People laughed."

"Bet they're not now.  Anyway, we are going back to Severus' rooms to repeat last year's happenings.  We will see you tomorrow."

Severus smirked.

"Maybe."

Remus laughed, shooing them away and Sirius screwed up his face, still trying to get used to the fact that his godson was doing _that_ with Severus Snape.  The seventh year girl who had commented on Severus earlier looked enviously at Harry and several of the boys crowded around her looked sickened at the image.  On the way past the food table Harry picked up a bowl of strawberries and didn't put them back down again until he got into his bedroom, but it was Severus who lifted the whipped cream.

~End of the school year~

The end of year feast was underway and people had gotten so used to Harry and Severus' relationship that nobody so much as flinched when Harry got up from his chair and knelt beside Severus chair.  Albus did, though, and smiled evilly.

"Severus, can I ask you something?"

Severus looked confusedly at his nervous lover.

"Yes, of course.  What's wrong?"

"Nothing, its just…"

He pulled out a relatively large leather box and opened it, setting it on the table inn front of Severus who gawked.

"Willyoubemybonded?"

Severus took one of the white gold, Celtic style armbands from the box and slid it on to Harry's arm.

"Yes."

Harry took the other and fixed it onto Severus' wrist and smiled.

"You know that Albus is smiling in that way again – why do I think he just won another bet about us?"

"Because he probably has, Severus."

"And I don't care one bit.  Kiss me."

Harry and Severus hadn't kissed in public since Halloween that year so Harry was understandably surprised, but he still eagerly complied, drawing the attention of the rest of the staff table, who in turn saw the bands and scowled at Albus who was rubbing his hands together in a greedy way.  Of course their displeasure at giving up money was eased slightly by the fact that last time Albus had bought a rather large amount of liquor with his winnings and had been only too happy to share it.

Harry finally stood on wobbly legs and let his fingers drift slowly out of Severus' as he made his way back to his seat between his 'dogfather' and 'were-friend'.

"You might have told _us_ what you were planning!"

"I didn't know I was going to do it until a week ago and then I had to search for the right bands.  I wasn't thinking about helping you in a bet, I was thinking about Severus."

Albus looked over just as Sirius humphed.

"Can I announce it?"

Harry looked at Severus and received a nod.

"Yes."

Minerva accordingly tapped her goblet and silence fell over the hall.

"Another year gone, and a busy one at that.  I have to say that the lingering atmosphere left by Voldemort has almost completely dispersed, and that happiness is making a welcome reappearance.  I can think of no better example than two of the professors here at the table.  As you no doubt know Professors Potter and Snape have been involved for quite some time now and I am pleased to be the one to announce their bonding, the ceremony of which is to take place on…?"

He looked at both men and this time Severus gave the questioning look and Harry the nod.  Severus spoke.

"Halloween.  This Halloween."

He smiled at Harry and mouthed the words 'new tradition' at him receiving a nod and the same mouthed back.  Albus continued, oblivious.

"There we go, on Halloween of this year.  Voldemort has taken much from our society, from our friends and families, and we are deeply sorry for the great loss, but it is time to reconsider that which we have left.  It is now a time to remember what we were fighting for all along and to put that freedom to use.  You are about to go back into the world and I wish you all the best of luck in finding your own happiness, whatever form it comes in.  But for now I suggest a toast to our newest fiancés.  To Professors Potter and Snape.  Good luck."

The toast was echoed throughout the hall and Severus stood up and walked over to Harry and pulled him from the seat and out of the Hall, back to his dungeons for a proper celebration.  Again the seventh year girl looked jealous.

~ That Halloween ~

An ancient stone circle in the middle of Wiltshire was being put to use once more by the wizarding society that had been the founders of it in the first place.  In the middle of the mystical circle that was Stonehenge stood three figures, and around the inner-edge of the circle around about thirty witches and wizards sat holding hands, keeping in the magic of the bonding ceremony that was taking place.  Suddenly a bright white energy showered the circle with light, contrasting beautifully against the red October sky.  After a moment one of the figures standing in the middle called out.

"I now present to the world Misters Potter-Snape."

The sitting people broke hands and began clapping, standing and moving towards the beaming couple offering congratulations.

Of course, that night they held a reception in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and the first dance – incidentally also the last due to high levels of desire to rip clothing off – was a Latin dance.  This time there was a rose.


	2. An and Disclaimer

Oops, forgot to do this before.  Harry Potter and characters are not mine – they and all related indicia belong to J.K Rowling/Bloomsbury/Warner Bros.

Also, this is a one-time, no prequel/sequel things, so it will probably be lost to the mists of time unless someone archives it.  May end up in Dusk Til Dawn, you never know. 

Review, review, review!

Mia


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